The Slayer and the 'Brat' Who Lived
by Mirrored Illusions
Summary: Buffy accidentally walks into the Leaky Cauldron and meets the hero of the magical world.
1. The Leaky Cauldron

**Disclaimer** : Property of Joss and JKR.  
 **Notes** : The end is a little abrupt but there will be a follow-up some other day.  
Written for the 2017 August FaD, Day 7.

"This can't be right," Buffy mumbled to herself as she looked around the bar she had just walked into. Wait, they called it a pub here, didn't they? Giles had told her to meet an old acquaintance of his in a pub on Charing Cross Road, but this place was nothing like the places he usually frequented. There was a distinct lack of a stage where he could sing and play his guitar for one. The people in here were also wearing some strange old-fashioned dresses.

Suddenly a guy rose from a nearby table and walked over to her, "May I help you, miss? You look lost."

Her first reaction was that he had the greenest eyes she had ever had the pleasure to see; her second reaction was that he was a lot more world-weary than he should've been. Young men straight out of their teens, if he was even out of his teens, didn't normally look at her with that kind of suspicion.

"Uh, yes. I'm looking for some place called The Watering Hole, and this isn't it. At least I don't think it is."

The dark-haired teenager gave her an amused grin. "Definitely lost then. This is the Leaky Cauldron. The Watering Hole is further up the street." He paused briefly, before he soldiered on, "Are you a witch?"

Buffy blinked; that was direct for someone she had never met before. "No. What does that have to do with a bar?" Yes, she could feel the magic in this place and even beyond it, but still. Blunt.

"The Leaky Cauldron is the entrance to Diagon Alley, Magical Britain's main shopping district." He paused and narrowed his eyes a little behind his glasses. "You do know about magic, right?"

"Sure! One of my best friends is a Wiccan! She's currently visiting the Devon Coven." Buffy smiled at him before she discreetly gave him a once-over and discovered that while he was wearing an old-fashioned, but fairly new, cloak she could see a pair of blue jeans and what she guessed was a t-shirt through the open front. Good to know that at least one the people here knew of the more recent fashion trends.

Green Eyes, she needed to find out his name, kept frowning at her, but then he seemed to reach a conclusion and presented his right hand to her. "I'm Harry Potter. Welcome to Great Britain and Magical Britain specifically."

There was some kind of expectation when he said that, particularly when he said his name. Where had she heard the name 'Harry Potter' before?

Buffy reached back in her memory and came up with a conversation she'd had with Tara about magic users who needed a wand to practice magic. She'd given a brief overview of how their society was set up compared to theirs and something about a boy who lived?

While she was thinking she automatically shook his hand, "Buffy Summers."

Oh, that explained these peoples lack of modern clothing! Tara had said their 'world' was stuck several centuries in the past. Well, mostly stuck in the past. Apparently, they insisted on separating themselves nearly completely from what they called 'muggles', Tara had translated it as ' normal non-magical people', and as a consequence, they stuck out like a bunch of sore thumbs on the few occasions they ventured outside their enclaves.

She suddenly became aware that he was waiting for her to say something else, and she just blurted out, "I don't really know much about your kind of magic users. The witches I know don't need a fancy stick to perform magic, and for some reason, I connect your name with the phrase 'the brat who lived' but I don't remember why. Or why someone would call you something that ridic -." She stopped abruptly when he held up a hand. "Sorry, I don't normally babble like that, " she added sheepishly.

Green Eyes, Harry, actually laughed a little at her. "It's the *boy* who lived, not the 'brat'. But I digress. Why don't you join me for an ice cream at Fortescue's, my treat, and I'll tell you about us 'fancy stick users' and you can tell me about these witches who don't need a magical focus?"

She thought about it, looked at her watch and realized she was already two hours late and decided Giles' friend had probably given up on her over an hour ago. Buffy grinned at Harry Potter, "why yes, gentle sir, you may treat this lady to an ice cream and a fabulous story to pass the time."

Her new friend decided to get in on the act and gave her an exaggerated bow, "This way my lady and we shall eat, drink, converse and tell stories!" He gave her his elbow, which she took, and he walked her over to a small courtyard and a brick wall which he tapped with his wand.


	2. Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour

Written for the 2017 August FaD, Day 21.

By the time Harry had guided Buffy to the place where the ice cream lived in the British Magical world she was halfway convinced that the nifty stone arch back at the bar had been some kind of time-travel device, and at the same time she had the weird feeling that she'd stepped right into a regency movie. Except the characters wore robes instead of fancy dresses and strange men's clothing.

While they'd been walking Harry had been explaining what was sold in the shops they were passing. To her surprise, those things included newt eyes, a shop called Eeylops Owl Emporium where Harry told her he'd gotten his first owl (what? why would he need an owl?), and several shops which sold broomsticks. It wasn't just time-travel, they'd thrown in what seemed to be every kind of magical cliche they could think of - including the pointy hats. In the younger generations defense, it seemed to mostly be the older generations who wore the old-fashioned headwear.

Just before they entered the ice cream parlor Buffy couldn't help it anymore, "Is this place a parody or is this where people have gotten the cliches from?" A few elder men in weird dresses and pointy hats threw her a filthy look as they passed by, which she happily ignored in favor of hearing Harry's reply.

Her magical guide choked a little on her comment but soldiered on. Apparently, he was used to weird questions, or if the people here were any indication maybe he was just used to weirdness in general and had learned to take it in stride. She gave the street another, more critical look-over. On second thought, if he had spent a lot of time in places like this and then going back to the real world then he must've just learned to go with the flow because it was no doubt easier on him. The culture clash alone must be headache inducing, not to mention trying to fit into both places without sticking out too much in the other. Yikes, and she had issues being secret identity girl?

"Diagon Alley has been more or less like this for centuries. Wizards don't like change very much, and when they find something that works they'll stick to it. For *centuries*." He actually sounded a little pained by that, which was understandable because how many teenage boys/men in their early twenties would voluntarily wear a dress and cloak in their daily life? Seriously, how any?

"Have these people heard of electricity, cars, tarmac? Or, you know, jeans and t-shirts or more formal everyday wear?" Harry was wearing jeans so he most likely knew. Probably.

Her green-eyed companion gave her a resigned look, which she supposed wasn't actually aimed at her so much as the topic. "Most magical people refer to electricity as 'ekkeltricity' or some other mispronunciation, and I'm fairly certain they don't know what it's used for or what it can do. They do know about cars, even if most people have never used one. There are quicker and more effective ways to travel by magic. And I honestly don't know if they know what a tarmac is." Then he frowned and gave her a look, "By 'tarmac' you mean 'asphalt', right? The black stuff roads are made of? I vaguely remember an American movie calling it that."

Buffy smiled at him, "Yes, tarmac is the 'black stuff roads are made of'." Then she switched back to the topic at hand. "So what I've heard, and now seen, of the British Magical world it truly is stuck in the past?"

"Quite, unfortunately. They don't want to know and they refuse to learn. There are a few things which have made it through, mainly because someone made a magical counterpart, but mostly they're woefully unprepared if the muggles find out and attack us. They are for the most part convinced that either magic will make sure the muggles never find out about us or that magic truly is might and we'll win any fight or war. It's a miracle we haven't been exposed yet, or more likely muggleborns working in the muggle government to help make sure we're kept a secret."

"You keep referring to the rest of the magical world as 'they', why don't you consider yourself a part of it? At least not completely?" It was odd phrasing from someone who was clearly a part of this underground culture.

He gave her a lop-sided smile. "Give me a few minutes to order our ice creams and I'll try to explain it to you."

What followed was Harry explaining the flavors to her and then paying with some bizarre looking coins, which he handed her a selection of when he'd finished the transaction since he saw her eyeing them. She studied the magical currency while he carried their ice creams to a table outside the little shop. However, when they'd sat down she chose to return the money and shelve the conversation of the magical monetary system in favor of their previous topic.

"So, why don't you consider yourself a full member of the magical society?"

Before he answered he took out a piece of wood, which Buffy realized was a wand after a few seconds when he waved it around and said several Latin phrases and words. When she gave him a questioning look he simply replied, "I'm famous in the magical world, and I don't want this conversation to become front page news." Off her surprised and confused look he added, "Yes, it's really that bad. Don't ask. The spells I cast are concealment and silencing charms. They make sure we're not disturbed and no one can hear what we say."

Buffy's perfectly manicured eyebrows rose, "Nifty. I really need to tell my friends about that. They would be really useful in my work."

Harry derailed her little mental planning session before it really got off the ground. "You can't use magic around muggles so whatever it is you do, it's unlikely you can take advantage of them."

He then settled in for a longer explanation of the original question. "I sort-of prefer the muggle world because I was raised there. My upbringing wasn't good, but the world outside the enclaves has a lot to teach us and I don't want to miss it by hiding in a mostly medieval society. Don't get me wrong, I love magic and can't imagine living without it, but there has to be some kind of middle-ground where we can have the best of both worlds without losing ourselves. The witches and wizards in charge can't or won't see that, they're entirely convinced we're superior to anyone without magic and your kind can't possibly teach us anything of value."

When Buffy began looking offended he hurried to add, "I don't agree at all. I think we could improve quite a lot by reverse engineering various things the muggles have made and get it to run on magic instead of electricity. But the problem is magical law; it prohibits anyone from adding magic to muggle objects or to make a magical version of a muggle invention. Supposedly this is to protect copyright laws on both sides, but I'm sure if they'd really wanted to they could get around that. After all, we have magical watches, the Wizarding Wireless Network, the Hogwarts Train, and other things we've obviously stolen from the muggles and I'm sure no one gets royalties or anything off of that.

Harry glanced at his wristwatch as he ate some of his ice cream and bit back a curse. "I'm really sorry to do this, but I'm late for dinner with my soon-to-be in-laws. I'd love to continue this conversation though, so would you mind terribly if my fiance and I met you somewhere in the muggle world tomorrow? I'm sure she has a lot of questions of her own, especially since you didn't get to tell me about these witches who can perform magic without a wand. And you can ask her questions, too since she'd a muggleborn."

"Muggleborn?" He'd said that several times now, but the word meant nothing to Buffy. And of course, someone that yummy would have a fiancee. She sighed to herself.

"A witch or wizard born to non-magical parents. So about that meeting?"

She rattled off the name and address for a cafe not far from her hotel, and then they negotiated for a time to meet before Harry lead her back out of Diagon Alley, through the shabby bar she'd accidentally wandered into earlier, and all the way out to the normal street.

They made sure they had all the details for the day after and said their goodbyes before Harry gave her a smirk and disappeared with a small crack from right in front of her. Leaving a shocked Slayer behind who suddenly had a lot more questions than before.


	3. Tell Me Another Story

**Disclaimer:** The Buffyverse belong to Joss Whedon. HP belongs to JKR  
 _Written for the 2017 August FaD, Day 28._

The day after Buffy managed to arrive early to the cafe and was halfway through her first coffee cup when she saw Harry arrive hand-in-hand with a pretty brunette. The Green-Eyed wizard was wearing jeans again, but a different, darker pair than the day before, and a button-down short-sleeved shirt. The young woman with him was wearing black slacks and a simple deep-red blouse with short sleeves. Nothing about either of their appearances screamed or even whispered 'magic!'. She could still feel Harry's magic, which was powerful, and also that of his companion, which was also powerful but less so than her fiance.

When they got closer to her table Buffy got up and shook hands with Harry's fiancee, who introduced herself as Hermione Granger. The woman was attractive but not drop-dead gorgeous, which was a kind of relief. Normally attractive people were easier to deal with. Her hair was a brown mess of curls, put into an artfully messy ponytail, and she had sharp and intelligent brown eyes which studied her intently as Buffy politely introduced herself. Harry excused himself and went to order coffee for them all while the two women made some small talk while they waited. There was no point in staying since they couldn't have a conversation about magic in a place full of people who knew nothing about the hidden magical worlds, and what was moving within them.

Ten minutes later and all three of them had fresh cups of coffee and they were walking towards a nearby park, where they could have at least something semi-private. Buffy would've suggested her hotel room but she wasn't quite ready to reveal her own place within her particular part of the magical world. And that was bound to happen since hardly anyone of her friends, or her sister, in particular, knew what it meant to knock on a door and wait to be allowed inside. Or to not just blurt out things if they thought they were alone.

So, off they went to the sunlit park and all of its children and their accompanying adults. She didn't really mind children, but they tended to stick their noses where they didn't belong, or hear things they shouldn't. Dawn and her insatiable curiosity being an excellent example of that.

They arrived at a round table and seated themselves, and Buffy's lips twitched a little between the table and the two magical people in front of her but refrained from saying anything out loud. Instead, she opened the conversation.

"So, now that we have some relative privacy, both the normal kind and the kind helped along by the fancy stick, shall we start?" She smiled at the couple who returned the gesture.

"Harry told me about your conversation yesterday, so as I understand it you're not a witch but you are magical somehow? Are you a squib, or do you perhaps have creature inheritance?" Hermione's voice was cultured and inquisitive.

"Hermoine!" The admonishment was kind of cute, but her question had been sort-of insulting, even if she was relatively certain it hadn't been meant that way.

"What's a squib?" It was a new word to add to her mental dictionary of British magical words and phrases.

"It's the opposite of a muggleborn; a non-magical person born to magical parents."

Buffy nodded in understanding. "No, I'm not a squib. No, neither of my parents were magical in any way. And no, they were not some kind of creatures." She paused to think for a few seconds, "Can humans really breed with whatever these magical creatures are?"

Harry smiled at her. "Yes, we had two professors who were part-magical creatures. Well, three, but the third was made not born. The first was our Charms professor, he was part Goblin but mostly just looked like a very short human. The second taught Care of Magical Creatures from our Third Year and onwards, and he was half Giant. He was really, really tall and loved dangerous creatures and kept insisting that they were just 'misunderstood'." The couple smiled at each other in reminiscence before Hermione picked up where her fiance had left off.

"The third was a werewolf and taught Defense Against the Dark Arts in our Third Year."

Buffy smiled at them, "I know a werewolf from back in high school and college. He's the most laid-back person I've ever met. Succinct too."

The two of them nodded in somewhat relief, before Harry took over again and continued, "We also know a woman who is part Veela, but we didn't really go to school with her." Off of Buffy's confused look, Hermione recited something Buffy assumed was from a book, either on magical creatures in general or on Veela in particular.

"Veela are semi-human magical beings; beautiful women with white-gold hair and skin that appears to shine moon-bright. When angry, Veela takes on a less pleasant appearance; their faces elongate into sharp, cruel-beaked bird heads, and long scaly wings burst from their shoulders."

"They can also throw fireballs," Harry added helpfully with a smirk.

"And they have a sexual allure which works on most males and even some women. Harry is mostly immune."

Buffy blinked. "Sounds interesting." She was about to change the subject when she suddenly remembered something else Tara had told her. "Wait. Isn't your world highly racist? The friend who told me about your world said something about blood purity being very important to a lot of people. How does that work with someone who isn't entirely human?"

"The purebloods, the racists your friend meant, believe that only those of pure blood should be allowed to learn magic, live in the magical world, and decide how it's run. The half-bloods, muggleborns, squibs, and part-humans are considered to be secondary citizens at best by them. Contrary to what they want everyone to believe they're actually a minority due to inbreeding. It has caused complete or partial infertility and a lack of magical offspring in many of the old families. As a result, many of them are only able to have one child, or at least only one with enough magic to be considered a witch or wizard by the society."

Hermione drew in a breath as she collected her thoughts before she continued. "Because the purebloods who subscribe to the blood purity nonsense will only allow their children to marry other purebloods their numbers keep going down with each generation. There simply isn't enough of them. To make matters worse, the couples who are capable of having more magical children are often ridiculed for it. They are essentially driving themselves to extinction without knowing it."

Before she could continue her little rant, Harry decided to interfere. "They're not all like that. We have friends who are purebloods and who don't belive in that. My father was a pureblood from one of the oldest families in Britain and he chose to marry a muggleborn witch, with both of his parent's blessings. The infusion of new magical blood is sorely needed. All the inbreeding hasn't just caused infertility it has also made their children weaker magically."

Buffy couldn't helpt it, "So that's why you've decided to marry Hermione; you just want her to give you magically powerful babies." She grinned when the man blushed and the witch laughed.

"You walked straight into that one, Harry."

But Buffy's mission was completed, the mood had been lightened and she took the opportunity to change the topic a little.

"Are your kind of magic users capable of doing magic without a wand?"

"Yes. Well, kind of. Most of us have what's called 'accidental magic' when we're children. Meaning we instinctively Summon food or toys we want or change the color of our clothing and similar simple things. As we get older and begin to learn magic we become dependant on a wand as that is the only way we're taught at school."

Harry took over the explanation, "There are a few things we can learn that doesn't require a wand. Such as apparition, the Animagi transformation, and if you're desperate enough you can do simpler spells wandlessly. Kinda like muggle grandmothers lifting cars to save their grandchild."

This wasn't just a lesson in a whole other culture, it seemed like she would have to learn a whole language. Or at least the explanation and different use of Latin spells.

"...and 'apparition' and the 'Animagi transformation' are...?' 'Cause really, she was getting a little lost here. Where was Willow when she needed her?

"'Apparition' is the ability to teleport oneself and anyone touching you from one place to another. The 'Animagi transformation' is the ability to transform oneself into an animal and back again to human. You can only turn into a non-magical animal and you don't get to choose which one. And yes, we can only turn into one animal, not multiple ones."

Buffy had straightened herself before Hermione had even finished her first sentence, but politely waited until she'd finished talking before blurting out, "That's how you disappeared outside the Leaky Cauldron yesterday!"

Harry just grinned at her. What was the British phrase? 'Cheeky bugger'? Beside Harry, Hermione looked like she was wanted to roll her eyes, but was too well-manned to actually do it and instead gave Buffy an amused long-suffering smile which was returned by an amused one.

They continued to converse far into the night, only stopping to get food at one point when they got hungry. Harry got his explanation of wandless witches and both halves of the couple were fascinated. Unfortunately, Buffy was leaving for America the morning after, but they exchanged both phone numbers and email addresses so they could keep in contact.

As Buffy went back to her hotel, Harry and Hermione began planning a trip across the pond.


End file.
